Bonnie Jo Hunt (Wicahpi Win-Star Woman) is Standing Rock Sioux and
great-great granddaughter of Chief Francis Mad Bear, prominent Teton
Lakota leader, and Major James McLaughlin, Indian agent and Chief
Inspector Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her childhood ambition was to become
an opera singer. Her dream came true with an invitation to join the San
Francisco Opera Company and successful concert tours that took her
abroad to study with the Director of Russia’s illustrious Bolshoi Opera
Company, and later highlighted by a premier in Paris, France.
While on tour in Montana, she was asked to make a special visit with
Indian children. Educators said, “We like our children to identify with
successful Indian people.” The audience was so appreciative she vowed
to dedicate her talent to these special people.
In 1980, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, she launched Artists of
Indian America, Inc. (AIA) a non-profit organization with the specific goals of
developing positive self-images and instilling cultural pride in Indian youth.
To record and preserve her native heritage, in 1997 Bonnie Jo launched
Mad Bear Press which publishes the ten volume western historical series,
Lone Wolf Clan Books. Proceeds of recordings and publishing go to
support AIA.
She has worked with Indian peoples from coast to coast: Lumbee
communities of North and South Carolina; Objibwa and Cree, Minnesota
and Canada; Blackfeet, Salish and Kootenai, Montana; Yakama, Walla
Walla, Cayuse and Chinook, Pacific Northwest; and Apache, Navajo and
Pueblo peoples of the Southwest.
So successful has been Bonnie Jo’s endeavors, Women’s Initiative of
AARP singled her out as “One of Twenty Outstanding American Women”.
McCall’s labeled her, “A Singular Woman”. Bob Dotson of NBC Today
called her success story, “The American Dream”. A West African journalist
claimed her voice was that of an angel. Australian authorities requested
her advise on a plan for dealing with their troubled Aborigine minority.
Bonnie Jo is truly an international success role model for people in all
walks of life.
great-great granddaughter of Chief Francis Mad Bear, prominent Teton
Lakota leader, and Major James McLaughlin, Indian agent and Chief
Inspector Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her childhood ambition was to become
an opera singer. Her dream came true with an invitation to join the San
Francisco Opera Company and successful concert tours that took her
abroad to study with the Director of Russia’s illustrious Bolshoi Opera
Company, and later highlighted by a premier in Paris, France.
While on tour in Montana, she was asked to make a special visit with
Indian children. Educators said, “We like our children to identify with
successful Indian people.” The audience was so appreciative she vowed
to dedicate her talent to these special people.
In 1980, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, she launched Artists of
Indian America, Inc. (AIA) a non-profit organization with the specific goals of
developing positive self-images and instilling cultural pride in Indian youth.
To record and preserve her native heritage, in 1997 Bonnie Jo launched
Mad Bear Press which publishes the ten volume western historical series,
Lone Wolf Clan Books. Proceeds of recordings and publishing go to
support AIA.
She has worked with Indian peoples from coast to coast: Lumbee
communities of North and South Carolina; Objibwa and Cree, Minnesota
and Canada; Blackfeet, Salish and Kootenai, Montana; Yakama, Walla
Walla, Cayuse and Chinook, Pacific Northwest; and Apache, Navajo and
Pueblo peoples of the Southwest.
So successful has been Bonnie Jo’s endeavors, Women’s Initiative of
AARP singled her out as “One of Twenty Outstanding American Women”.
McCall’s labeled her, “A Singular Woman”. Bob Dotson of NBC Today
called her success story, “The American Dream”. A West African journalist
claimed her voice was that of an angel. Australian authorities requested
her advise on a plan for dealing with their troubled Aborigine minority.
Bonnie Jo is truly an international success role model for people in all
walks of life.
| Meet Bonnie Jo Hunt |
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